The child receives a vaccine against Covid-19 in Annandale, Virginia in 2021. Virginia belongs to the states that parted with fresh federal guidelines limiting access to the vaccine. (Photo: chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
The Insurance Committee of the House of Representatives adopted a solution on Monday to protect access to vaccines, regardless of the actions of the American Health and Social Welfare Department, which recently employed several skeptics of vaccines for managing the recommendation panel for vaccinations.
BillIntroduced by MP Arvind Venkat (from the state of Alleghena), he would require insurance companies in Pennsylvania to cover the full costs of all vaccines approved by the American Food and Drug and Drug Agency (FDA) and recommended by associations of doctors, such as the American Academy of Pediatrics or the American College of Outside and Gynecologists.
It was adopted in accordance with the party line, with 14 democrats behind and 12 Republicans against.
“Millions of Pennsylvania, who decided to vaccinate, are redempt by insurance without distribution of costs,” said Venkat. “The House Bill 1828 act is absolutely necessary to meet these expectations.”
The application also maintains religious exemptions in force in Pennsylvania.
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Historically, insurance companies operating in the Nations Community were obliged to cover vaccines recommended by the Advisory Committee for Vaccination Practices (ACIP) of the Disease Control Center. However, with his appointment to the Commission by the Secretary of Health and Social Welfare Robert F. Kennedy Jr. A number of skeptics towards vaccines officials and legislators of Pennsylvania took steps to bypass their advice.
In his last move, the panel changed its recommendation regarding the Covid-19 vaccine, so that people should consult a doctor before taking it, and not just go to the pharmacy for an injection. This is a consequence of the action taken last month aimed at adopting slightly more restrictive vaccination recommendations, recommending its apply in people aged 65 and older, children over six months of age with health problems and other “high risk” people.
So far, the change has not led to the fact that insurance companies have widely stopped taking vaccines, but many of them are obliged by state law to comply with ACIP guidelines. It is not clear, which is allowed by this more ambiguous recommendation.
Andrew Nixon, spokesman for the United States Health and Social Welfare Department (HHS), said: “States ruled by Democrats, which in the time of Covid-19 forced unscientific closing of schools, the order to wear masks for children and draconian vaccines passports, completely upset the trust of Americans to the public health agency. ACIP remains a scientific body. Vaccination in this country, and HHS will ensure that the politician is based on strict evidence and a golden standard of science, and not a failed pandemic policy. “
The Venkata Act is the latest effort of the community of nations aimed at providing access to vaccines in the face of shocks in disease control centers and HHS.
This is a consequence of the pressure of Governor Josh Shapiro and his administration to provide access to vaccines in Pennsylvania, regardless of the recommendations of the federal agency.
Last week, Shapiro signed an executive order ordering state agencies to provide the residents of Pennsylvania with access to free vaccinations, regardless of the ACIP guidelines.
The order ordered the state of health to do everything in his power to protect the access of children to vaccines, to ensure the Insurance Department to ensure vaccination by insurers, and the Department for the Elderly of the Community of Nations to ensure the availability of vaccines for the elderly. It will also create an online information portal and create a vaccine working group in the field of vaccine, which will be to combat disinformation.
Shapiro also signed Pennsylvania as part of the Northeast Public Health CollaborationPublic health authority created as a result of shocks in the United States Health Department. As part of the cooperation, your own vaccine recommendations will be developed and you will prepare for potential health crisis situations.
Last month, the State Pharmacy Council, according to the Shapiro recommendation, voted in favor of compliance with the guidelines for vaccinations developed by leading medical groups instead of the CDC vaccination panel. This move was to enable pharmacists to further provide vaccines to patients despite mixed signals from the US Health Department as to whether they eventually recommend the vaccine against Covid-19 and other vaccines.
